July 9th 2023.
On Sunday night's episode of Antiques Roadshow, a guest was left wide-eyed when his so-called "junk" item was valued at an eye-watering price. His piece of memorabilia was an original perspex sign from Live Aid 1985.
Organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, the multi-venue benefit concert was held on July 12th 1985 and was intended to raise funds for relief of the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The guest, who worked in catering feeding the crew of performers, was at the centre of the action and somehow managed to acquire the valuable piece of memorabilia.
When asked how he had come to possess it, the man explained "I was actually looking for certain items that had been thrown out of my personal laundry. Somebody threw them out thinking it was rubbish. And at the refuse area, that's where I found this. I didn't find my laundry, but I found this and that made up for it slightly." Valuer Jon Baddeley then hailed the item as "one of the most famous logos in the history of rock 'n roll music."
Jon went on to explain the significance of the item, saying "This wasn't part of the stage, it was part of the live broadcast when various stars came along and were interviewed. Seven or eight hours into the show, Bob Geldof asked, 'How much money have we raised?', and I think it came to £1.5million or something like that, and he was really cross after all the effort. So, when he went to do the live interview, he famously came up with the phrase... forget about this, just give us the money, with an expletive in there. Because of his emotion and the force of his personality, it increased the donations by £300 per second."
Jon added that the effort went on to raise a whopping £150million for famine in Africa and that the perspex sign was so rare, that it could be worth between £8,000 to £12,000 today. The gentleman couldn't believe what he was hearing and said "Wow. Incredible." He then joked that his original washing was probably worth around 60p.
It's certainly true that one man's trash is another man's treasure - in this case, a perspex sign worth thousands! Have you ever stumbled upon an item of junk that turned out to be worth thousands? Comment now.
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